Television
Post Thorpem
Richard ingrams
Once again, it has been a case this week of what didn't get shown on television being more interesting than what did. For months two teams respectively from LWT and the BBC had been compiling lengthy Thorperamas to be shown after the verdict. In the event both epics were scrapped and huge sums of money. I presume. vanished down the drain.
A pity. of course. as I would have thought that with careful editing a lot of the material could have been put on the air, given a little courage on someone's part. As it was, the only post-mortem that I saw was a desultory scrapping match on The Editors (BBC-1) which followed up what seemed to be considered the only 'safe' topic of con An absurd mistake in our last issue had Richard Ingrams refer to 'Clive Jenkins' appearing on the LWT programme A Question of Sex, rather than Clive James. We apologise to both men. versation, namely the boring old cheque book journalism issue and the possible effects on the outcome. The hapless Peregrine Worsthorne (still unknighted) and Mr Stuart Cuttner of the Evening News put up a pretty feeble response to the charges that they had offered large sums to Messrs Bessell and Newton. Worsthorne, a front man for the elusive Lord Hartwell, and a man who clearly did not relish his brief, was reduced to arguing that Thorpe and his co-defendants owed their release to the Sunday Telegraph which, by signing up Bessell, thereby compromised him as a witness.
It so happened that the debate followed close upon the heels of the second of Brian Lapping's State of the Nation (Granada) knockabouts to which I referred last time, and proved my point that a discussion about the treatment of a real story, however desultory, is more interesting than any hypothetical case. Worsthorne and Cuttner wriggling uneasily in their seats were more true-to-life than the Granada hacks and pundits — all boldly proclaiming their belief in justice. I was, I must admit, surprised to see Mr Clement Freud selected to act as Jeremy Thorpe's champion on The Editors. It may not be widely known that Freud, who spoke solemnly about the need for 'responsible and respectable' journalism and presented himself as the spokesman for decency. 'cheats' on the News Quiz, the amusing radio programme on which I frequently appear myself. It might interest those who heard Freud's sanctimonious defence of his friend Thorpe, to be told that when the lugubrious Member for Ely is a member of the News Quiz panel, he brings with him,a 'crib'. consisting of a list of all the week s events complete with a number of 'impromptu"jokes'. Radio listeners are of course unaware of what is going on, and, in normal circumstances, I would have thought it too trivial a matter to bring to their attention. However, now that Freud has come on television to lecture the media on their ethical responsibilities, I feel I cannot remain silent.
I have finally caught up with Rum pole, (ITV) experiencing last week the rare sensation of watching a programme with something approaching enjoyment. Enough has been said about the wonderful characterisation of Leo McKern, without whom it is difficult to imagine the series. What I like myself is the fact that for once a writer, in this case John Mortimer, has dared to invent an old fashioned middle-class hero still retaining some sense of decency and idealism who functions, not like so many television character 4 in the Thirties or Forties, but now, in the world of 1979. Rum pole of course often loses out in the situations in which he finds himself and this, again, makes him a life-like and contemporary character. Could we not all imagine him at the end of the Thorpe case stomping gloomily off while the camera crews clam bered over one another to get at the smiling defendants emerging triumphant from the Old Bailey?
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